Sunday, March 16, 2014

Road Trip Home, Part Two: From Here to Eternity

After, Jimmy’s graduation from
Parris Island, my daughter and her family with me riding shotgun began our long
ride, 700 miles, home to New Jersey. Although
the van was a nice size, after we packed it up with our suitcases, Jimmy’s marine
bags, three adults and three teens, the van seemed to mysteriously
shrink in size. We were tired from all the activities of Family Day and
Graduation Day at Parris Island and I was anxious to get home to my husband, who was too sick to
make the trip.

My daughter and I were squeezed into
a little section of the van as the boys either fell asleep or played a board
game. To play the board game one of the seats had to be folded down and used as a
table. I told my daughter that I felt like one of those poor cows that were
warehoused at industrial farms. MOO!

We stopped for lunch after being on the road for several
hours. After a quick bite, we loaded back into the car only to learn after driving for an hour that we
had to turn back. One of the boys forgot their cell phone behind.

I'm not mentioning any names, and none of
us were happy about the extra time on the road, but shit happens. My son-in-law was anxious to get me
home to hubby and figured that we would make it home by 10 p.m. on Friday night if he kept the pedal to the metal.
Wrong!

Young Jimmy has a childhood friend (also a new marine) who is being
transferred overseas and he wanted to visit him at the Fort Lee base. We made
the detour and after entering the base, got lost a few times before finding his
friend. Happy reunion between friends accomplished, we headed to a restaurant
before continuing the trip.

The newest estimated arrival time to New Jersey was now
closer to 1:30 Saturday morning, which I wouldn’t have minded except my
daughter and I were exhausted and still squished in-between three growing or
grown teens. Help!

Someone got the bright idea to put on a movie called Dragon
Ball Z. I had no freaking idea who or what Dragon Ball Z was about. Why were
all the characters in that movie screaming at each other? What was the
background story on Dragon Ball Z? Nathan, the youngest, took his time explaining
to me and my daughter who each character was. I wasn’t impressed.

Maybe it was because my daughter and I were so exhausted or
maybe it was because we were giddy from the lack of oxygen due to being
squished in the van, all I know is that we began to laugh hysterically while
Nathan explained who and what Goku, Chi-Chi, Gohan, Broly and Oolong the pig
were doing in this movie. I don’t know
about you, but Oolong is a very strange pig.

Like I said, it was a long ride home and my poor son-in-law
drove it all by himself. When we did arrive back home, we all tumbled out of
the car and began unpacking. I arrived home a little past two in the morning. That
night, I had a nightmare that I was a character on Dragon Ball Z.